Saxion University of Applied Sciences

Profile of the university

Saxion is among the largest universities of applied sciences in the Netherlands. Our origin dates back to the early 1900s, when our predecessors were established. Nowadays Saxion University has become an important centre of expertise in the region. Our student population amounts to 20,000 and is still growing.

The Saxion campuses are located in the beautiful eastern part of the Netherlands. While life seems a bit more relaxed here, all three Saxion locations have good public transport facilities. The larger cities of Utrecht, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and the Hague lie within a 1.5 hour radius.

We are very proud of our diverse student body. People from over 52 countries choose to study at Saxion. Our international student population tops 2,000 students. International classrooms are made up of people from all over the world. Studying at Saxion will surely help you embrace other cultures and nationalities.

For many international students, coming to the Netherlands is a very big step. We recognized the need for international students to quickly become part of the social environment. We have therefore invested in setting up a group of host families (Friends of Saxion International Students), who will be available to make our international students feel at home. We also encourage our current students to become buddies to make new students familiar with studying at Saxion.

Description of the study program(s)

Possibilities for incoming students

Risk and Emergency Management for the public and private sectors

Exchange semester for students of partner universities (Short Course for other participants)Start: Each FebruaryLocation: Enschede

Introduction In spite of proaction and prevention efforts to prevent crisis and disasters, emergencies may still appear. In this semester, we discuss the core principles of emergency mangement in the public and private sector.

Crisis and emergency management not only comprises all activities carried out to fight a crisis including saving lives and minimizing damage to properties, it also encompasses activities and measures taken in advance to ensure an effective response, such as the enhancement of emergency capacities through the development of a contingency plan or through the training of response activities. Therefore, this course focusses on the activities related to directly preparing and providing assistance or intervention immediately before, during or immediately after a crisis or emergency.

Moreover, the course will focus on both the public and private sector, since cooperation between public and private actors is required for effective action. Take for example the scenario of fire at a hazardous installation with a toxic cloud. In such a case, evacuation of the area threatened by this cloud may be necessary. In the Netherlands, the police department will then be responsible for traffic management, whereas the mayor of the municipality in which the incident is taking place has the administrative lead. The company that owns the hazardous installation, however, is responsible for the safety of its employees on the site and for mitigating potential risks of the hazardous installation. Consequently, emergency management has to be carried out by multiple agencies in which both vertical and horizontal coordination is required and in which both public and private actors should have their preparation and response in apple-pie order.

Course contentIn this course, you will learn more about emergency management. We will use the Dutch way of managing emergencies as starting point, but also reflect on these practices from an international perspective. The course is divided into two parts (terms). The first term focusses on emergency management in the public sector, the second term on emergency management in the private sector. Within the course attention is paid to:

Crisis and emergency management in the Netherlands in which the way the Netherlands has organised its preparation and response activities is discussed;

Business continuity management e.g. what are crucial processes within a company and how can the continuity of these activities be guaranteed?

Ethics in which we pay attention to ethical dilemmas that may result from the choices that should be or are being made in the preparation and response phase;

Change management e.g how can we learn from emergencies and actually implement lessons learned during other incidents?

Crisis management and especially to the coordination of crisis and emergency management.

In addition, you will also be working on an individual assignment on an emergency management topic of your own choice. You may carry out a research based on your own ideas or interests or may make use of assignments that are brought in by our partners from the safety and security domain. This assignment is supervised by teachers from Saxion. The course (30 ECs) is part of the bachelor Applied Safety and Security Studies and will be taught in English. The aim of this course is to provide insight into crisis and emergency management on the strategic and tactical level. Therefore, this course is less suitable for students who would like to learn more about operational emergency management such as firefighting.

How to apply? Make sure your home university nominates you for the Saxion semester before May 1st. After acceptance by Saxion, we will inform you about the practicalities. Jeroen Neuvel, course coordinator j.m.m.neuvel@saxion.nl

Contact Details

Mr. Jeroen Neuvel

Drs MMJ Marcel Paschedag

Lecturer and Researcher Applied Safety and Security Studies Coördinator of International Affairs Safety and Security Studies

Conris related activities

Saxion University of Applied Sciences provides for the Chairman of CONRIS.

Our Research Centre for Urban & Environmental Development conducts research in the urban area in its broadest sense, as it becomes increasingly difficult to distinguish between urban and rural areas. In addition to the eight chairs, all of our professors work closely together on the following three key research areas: Urban Concepts, Safe & Durable Energy and Governance & Entrepreneurship.

One of these chairs is the research chair Safety and Risk Management. This chair was founded in 2003 after the fireworks disaster in Enschede, The Netherlands. Practice-oriented research focuses on the management of both safety and social risks in the urban environment. I.e.: urban risk related to the production, storage and transport of hazardous materials, Crime Prevention through Environmental Design and safety risks of energy transitions.